Hockey Time

Here in Ontario the hockey season marks the start of winter, and with winter here my focus will be on hockey. I thought I would share with you some shots from Saturday nights womens game between Laurier University and UOIT.  This game also marked the second game for the net camera. Jessica Larabie of UOIT was shell shocked but did quite well only giving up 3 goals.

I hope you enjoy the shots.

Trevor

CIS Football Best of 2011

With the CIS season coming to an end (for me anyway) I thought it was a good time to look back on the games I shot and pick out some of the best of the best, presented in the order they were shot:

1) Coin Toss - This picture was taken as an homage to Peter Reid Miller of Sports Illustrated.  The coin toss for any game is boring at best, but any time you add a fisheye lens it makes it a bit more interesting.

 2) SLIDE!!! - No coach ever likes to see the Quaterback take a hit and would like them to slide, but that's not what Luke Balch had in mind when he tried to jump over a defender.

3) Up and Over - Issac Dell of Laurier goes up and over everyone to score a touchdown.  This image was also used by the Ottawa Citizen so it is a bit more special.

4) Incomplete - Chris Daly of the Ottawa Gee Gees breaks up a pass in the endzone.

5) The Catch - Bogdan Raic from the Ottawa Gee Gees goes up and grabs a touchdown.

6) Touchdown - Shamawd Chamber of Laurier makes a nice catch on his way to the endzone.  Shamawd is listed as the Number 2 overall prospect for this years CFL draft.

7) Fumble - Samuel Aird chases down the Waterloo Quaterback and when he gets to him he forces a fumble.

8) Rainy Touchdown - The weather was bad but the game was exciting.

9) Get off my back - Shamawd Chambers refuses to go down, carrying a couple of players a few yards on his back.

10) Look out! - Sometimes when you are shooting a game, you are looking through the lens and are very focused.  That's when the play comes your way and before you know it the players are right on top of you.  This picture is one of those, but I stood in and fired away (and managed to avoid getting hit).

11) Personal Foul - Laurier was already moving the ball well, and this shot to the back of the ball carriers head didn't help Guelph get the stop.

12) Oakley - Those who know me know my obsession with Oakley and I just couldn't resist.... that and it looks cool!

All in all the season went well.  I sure would have liked to see Laurier go a bit further in the playoffs and maybe even some snow, but at the end of the season I looked back and found some cool shots and had some fun.

Trevor

The Hockey Net Camera

Here's the thing, anyone who follows my photography knows I have been planning and talking about this all summer.  I have been wanting to get some VERY unique pictures and one way I have decided to do that is by using remote cameras.  You see it all the time in NHL hockey....The NET CAMERA.  Why does a net camera have to be reserved for professionals only?

I decided that it didn't and set out to get a net camera going for this years hockey season.

Here are the items required:

• 1 Nikon (can be any brand really) DSLR Camera,
• 1 Sigma (again insert your brand of lens) 15mm fisheye lens,
• Pocketwizard remote camera trigger with the required sync cord; and,
• A lexan camera housing, manfrotto super clamp and a small tripod ball head.

Here is a shot of the set up in the net.

Thanks to Thomas Kolodziej for the picture of the setup.

The entire set up was mounted to the back post and sat roughly 6 inches off the ice.  White padding was placed around the outside of the lexan box to provide protection for the camera.  Once everything was in place I took a few steps back and fired off a test shot.

Everything was working great and I was ready for the start of the game.  A lot of folks think sports photography is just a fast camera, a fast lens and a photographer just shooting thousands of pictures, commonly known as spray and pray.  While that may be true to a certain degree it does take some skill to know where the play is going and what will make a great image.  The Net Camera is spray and pray.  You have to hit the button when the action gets close and hope (or pray) you got the shot.  There is no way of knowing what pictures you have until you get your hands on that compact flash card and download the images.

Again Thanks to Thomas for this shot as well.

Here I am during the first intermission getting the compact flash card from my camera.

My first attempt with the net camera did not return earth shattering results, however even an average play looks cool from a view that not many people get to see.

Trevor

Photography Gear

I thought my first post should be the gear that I will be using to create my unique and compelling images.  Below you will find the cameras and lenses that I use in my everyday photography.  Why Sigma? Sigma produces some very versatile zoom lenses which work great for sports and they really limit the number of camera bodies you have to own. Another great selling feature is the price.  Being aftermarket lenses they are more economical, and who is not trying to be more economical now?  My following blogs will hopefully be light on the technical info and full of images, but if you have a question about how any of my images are created please feel free to comment or email me and ask.  I can always be reached at trevormahoneyphoto@gmail.com .

Sigma 24-70mm f2.8

Sigma 70-200mm f2.8

Sigma 120-300mm f2.8

Sigma 1.4x Teleconverter

Sigma 15mm f2.8 Fisheye Lens

Nikon D300 DSLR

Nikon D700 DSLR